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00:00Dexter Henry, Stephen Bondy here after the Knicks had a fantastic for them game six victory down
00:06in the ATL. Steph just got back to the New York metro area. He is awaiting what is going to
00:12happen
00:12in the next series. We'll find out who the Knicks will play. And that's what we're here to talk
00:16about. Who should the Knicks, who should they want to play in the next round? Steph, I'm going to
00:21start with this before we get to the other two teams, whether it's Philadelphia or Boston.
00:25What was your reaction to the beatdown that we saw from the Knicks in Atlanta? Because I don't
00:31think anybody saw that coming. Yeah, I mean, they snatched their heart immediately. And the Hawks,
00:38they kind of look like even in the previous two games, they wanted no part of the Knicks defense.
00:42They look like their offense to just reach the stalemate and they can do anything. And then that
00:48just snowballed and hit a whole nother level in game six. And, you know, give Mike Brown a ton
00:54of credit here. One, you know, the offense, they started to run the ball, run the offense
00:59through cat at the elbow, which was an adjustment because the Hawks were hugging, basically hugging
01:05Jalen Brunson. And so they allowed Jalen Brunson to kind of play off the ball and set screens,
01:10which allowed OG and Anobi to get open on cuts. And, you know, it's not that Carl Anthony
01:17Towns was posting up or anything, but he playmates with his face, with his face in the basket.
01:23And he's a lead at that. And then defensively, I actually wrote an article about this today
01:28just now. Josh Hart wanted that CJ McCollum matchup. I talked to him after the game alone
01:34last night and he was basically like, yeah, like he's, he cooked us in games one and two,
01:41put me on them. And then when they, they took them off him at the end of game three,
01:45he said he cursed out at one of the assistant coaches. And then just to make sure that didn't
01:50happen again. Um, at halftime in game four, he just walked into the coach's room and was like,
01:56guess, don't change this. I'm staying on them. Um, and it basically changed the series cause CJ was
02:02just disappeared, um, for the second half of this series. So a lot of adjustments were made.
02:09Um, and by the end of it, the Knicks just owned the Hawks. Like it, like it was just an
02:14outrageous
02:15game last night. Yeah. I'm glad you mentioned that. And you wrote that about Josh Hart,
02:19because that tells me a lot about his want to, and you know, his defense has been a little up
02:23and down this year, but the want to, to take on that assignment of CJ McCollum and then deliver
02:27because there's two things to do that. You brought up Steph, the offensive adjustments that we saw,
02:32particularly cat playing at the elbow, pinch posts, whatever you want to call it.
02:36And the Knicks running a lot of flex action there. And then the defense being better.
02:39What was more impressive to you in this series? The fact that they made that offensive adjustment
02:43or the defense that we've kind of been looking for with this team, which one do you think is
02:48maybe more important that could translate going forward that can help this next team? I guess.
02:53Um, I think the defense, because, uh, you know, teams are going to play, uh, the Knicks offense
03:00differently. Like if they, if they play the Sixers, for instance, Joel Embiid is not going to be able
03:06to go up and, um, play pick and rolls on jail. And there's a reason why Jalen Brunson just utterly
03:12cooked the Sixers when they played two years ago in, uh, in that playoff series. Joel Embiid
03:17is not the type of center to get up in the pick and rolls. Jalen Brunson is going to have
03:21a ton
03:21of space as long as they set screens. It's a different kind of matchup, but the defense
03:26that always translates, right? I mean, you know, if you play, if you play with the intensity that
03:31they played with, if Carl Anthony Towns plays with the intensity that he plays with in the sprains
03:35that he plays with in that series, that, that translates from series to series.
03:39I happen to agree. Now we got to bring this up because you weren't talking to me. I think
03:44you did this with Brandon London, but you said when we were coming to the end of the regular
03:48season, you thought the Sixers would be the easiest matchup for the Knicks in the first
03:52round. If they face them, now there's a chance they can get them in the second round. And I think
03:56a lot of question on the minds of fans is, okay, who do you want? Sixers or the Celtics?
04:00Do you still think the Sixers are the easiest matchup for the Knicks?
04:03Yeah. In my mind, it's not even close. Joel Embiid is not going to, you have two old guys.
04:09Joel, I mean, Joel is not that old, but Paul George and Joel Embiid who health wise, I don't
04:14think they're going to last through two rounds. That's fair to not trust that. That's fair.
04:19Yeah. And on top of that, I mean, the Celtics have, I mean, Joel Embiid, has Joel Embiid,
04:24what's his deal? He's never been to a conference finals in his entire career.
04:27This is correct. So yeah, Tyrese Maxey is a special player. VJM Edgecombe could give
04:33the Knicks some fits, but they have the wing defenders to deal with, you know, that kind
04:39of stuff. And I think the Sixers would be a much easier matchup. The problem with the
04:42Celtics is their, their high variance. Like they rely so much on three pointers. If they
04:49are just hitting all of them, that's it. You're cooked. Like you're not going to win that series.
04:53So I would much rather, if I'm the Knicks, I'd much rather play the Sixers.
04:59Who do you think wins that game seven on Saturday? Celtics or the Sixers? Who do you think wins
05:04the game?
05:06So full disclosure, I was at the game last night in Atlanta. I didn't watch Sixers-Boston.
05:14So I haven't seen what happened, but just off the history of those two teams and what I know
05:21about those teams and their personnel, uh, Boston.
05:25You're going with Boston. Okay. So, okay. We go with your prediction. You expected to be making
05:29a trip, uh, up to Boston. That will be game one on Monday night. The Knicks played the Celtics
05:35well this season, took two out of three from them. You talked about the high variance with
05:38their shooting. We know this is how they play, but the Knicks didn't see them with Jason Tatum.
05:42When you look at Boston, do you think that matters in terms of how the Knicks might prepare
05:47for the series because they haven't seen the Celtics with Jason Tatum this year?
05:50Well, they saw him once with Jason Tatum, but Jalen Brown didn't play in that game.
05:53No, yeah. Sorry. That's right. Forgetting about that's my bad on that. That was the last
05:56matchup of the series. I was thinking about the three matches before that. Um, you're right.
06:00They did see him with Jason Tatum, but no Jalen Brown. So let me rephrase that. Do you think
06:04it matters that they haven't seen both of their wing superstars for Boston this season in terms
06:09of the matchup going into if they play each other in the playoffs this year? Yeah. I mean, listen,
06:13those two are known entities. I think at this point, they, like you said,
06:16they played them in a whole series last year. They've been playing against those guys for years.
06:20So I don't think they're going to do much to surprise you. Um, I do think, you know,
06:26going into this playoffs, I would have thought that the Celtics would be favored in that series.
06:31I, I don't know anymore. I mean, to me, the Celtics are worse than they were last year.
06:37Um, you know, they, they obviously thought they were going to almost punt a year with the moves
06:42that they made. And, um, to me, Vucevic is not a great addition. He's kind of slow defensively
06:48and he can be carved up. Um, so, but still, you know, the way that they were playing down the
06:54stretch of the season and the unevenness that the Knicks displayed throughout the regular season
06:57would have told me, listen, the Celtics are favored, especially since they had home court
07:02advantage. But now in the way that the Knicks finished off this series, like it was the best
07:06that I've seen them. I mean, they were clicking on all cylinders and a lot of the, a lot of
07:11the playoffs is, are you hot at the right time? So if the Knicks can kind of translate what they
07:16did in Atlanta, um, into Boston, they'd be the favorites. Okay. So that tells me you would be
07:23leaning. Well, you think the Sixers is easier matchup. So you would pick the Knicks over the
07:27Sixers. I'm assuming that five games, six games, five games. I have to, okay. Five games, Boston.
07:35Do you see that as a long series? Do you see it as a six, seven games, seven game series,
07:41seven game series, you'd have the Knicks winning in seven. Okay. So let me try to pin me into
07:47predictions, man. Are you anti, do I not know this about you? Are you anti predictions?
07:51I don't know. I don't know. It's like, I didn't make the predict, but all right,
07:54but we'll let's make the prediction. What's your prediction. By the way, I was right. I was right.
07:59I was right. Nixon. It wasn't exactly going out on a limb. Nixon six for round one.
08:03And I said Nixon five. So I was wrong. All right. Well, see, but this is what I love about
08:07you.
08:07You always try to be like, all right, Dex, you're not going to slide off on this. You're going to
08:10make a prediction too, which is fair. If the Knicks, I'm so I said this, I'm going to stick
08:15with it. The Knicks play the Celtics. I think the Knicks win in seven. I do like you like how
08:18they're playing right now. And I'll get to that one more in a second before we wrap. If they play
08:22the
08:22Sixers, I say six, but I could see five like you, maybe I'm giving the Sixers a little bit too
08:29much
08:29respect. The backcourt scares me a little bit. Edgecombe's not scared, but here's the thing.
08:34I don't know that Joel Embiid or Paul George are going to be healthy for the whole series.
08:38So if that doesn't happen, Steph, could they lose in five? Sure. Could they, I mean, the Sixers,
08:43could they lose in five? Sure. I could totally see it. Let me ask you this. Cause you, you seem
08:48to be,
08:50I'm not saying you're high on the Knicks supply, but you feel good about how they played these last
08:55three games. It almost could look for some people like they've turned the corner. And I agree with you.
08:59This is the best they've looked all season. We also will consider the opponent
09:03if the Knicks get past the second round series, whoever they play Celtics or the Sixers,
09:09do you feel confident they can go to the finals and say, okay, they're going.
09:13Yeah. Cause Detroit looks like, I mean, hot ass and
09:19Cleveland doesn't look great either. I mean, Cleveland, Cleveland, it's like everything you
09:23feared about them. Like you got two guys, Donovan Mitchell and James Harden, who historically have
09:28choked in playoffs. And then you got two guys in the front court and Evan Mobley and Jared Allen,
09:33who just become soft in the playoffs. So that that's kind of reinforcing the fears about them.
09:41And then, you know, Orlando, like, yeah, they're, they're tough. They're good. But
09:46talking about guys, not healthy. Is Franz Wagner ever going to be healthy? I don't know.
09:50Um, so yeah, I mean, on the other side of the bracket, it's just a lot of question marks,
09:55but, and to me, even going into the playoffs, the two best teams were the Celtics and the Knicks. So,
10:01um, the winner of that to me wins East and full disclosure, I said the same thing last year
10:07and then they lost the Pacers. So like, you know, like anything can happen.
10:13So anything can happen is so much for predictions. I guess as we get out of here, Steph,
10:19this series against Atlanta, that the Knicks wrapped up, I think was so interesting because
10:24after three games, Knicks fans were on edge and the Knicks responded how they, how they needed to.
10:29Does how they close this series, particularly with the blowout fashion in game six, does that,
10:35has that changed at all your perception of the Knicks for the rest of this playoff run? Or are you
10:41still in a space of, okay, you got to show me more when you play the Celtics or you play
10:45the
10:45Sixers? I'm still in the more, I do want to see it versus Celtics, but you know, going to the
10:50playoffs, there was a fear of this team is not totally connected. This team defensively has a
10:55lot of issues. How are you going to mask, um, Jalen Brunson and Carl Anthony Towns on defense?
11:01Um, is Josh Hart going to hit his shots? Um, OG Ananobi has been outrageously fantastic. He's
11:08exceeded all expectations. They've managed to look really good, even though Mikael Bridges only had
11:14one good game in that series. The bench, um, I thought played well. Jordan Clarkson has been a
11:19revelation. So there are a lot of good things to feel good about. Um, you know, with that said,
11:25the Hawks were, and they look like an inexperienced team. And by the end of that series, we all saw
11:31it.
11:31They wanted no part of that. They just basically said, Oh, I'm happy to be here. Thank you very much.
11:36Everybody said we, we lose. And so we lost. And this was a good, good season to feel good about
11:41the future. They wanted no part of winning that series, but the Knicks. So, so, you know,
11:46you got to take that into context where if they play the Celtics, the Celtics aren't thinking that
11:49the Celtics are thinking Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown thing. We want another title. So it's going to
11:54be a different level of intensity, a different type of, um, opponent. And I have to see.
12:00So last night when we did our live show, we did a poll, right? And we asked the fans,
12:04who do you want the Celtics or the Sixers? 60%, 60% of the fans said they wanted the Celtics.
12:12Now I don't know Steph, if that's because they want the smoke of the Celtics. And there's been
12:18some talk that, okay, last year was a fluke. Not saying that we said that I didn't say that,
12:22but there's been some talk about that last year was a fluke. They want to prove it again.
12:26They want to get back at the Celtics, the whole New York Boston thing, but you're,
12:30I'm with you. I think the Sixers are the matchup you should want. You should also want the home
12:33court advantage. If you want to, I mean, if you're asking me who the Knicks would have an
12:39easier time with, I say the Sixers and I get it. Like, you know, fans chant, we want Boston.
12:43That's like a thing in New York. And if you don't want to duck the smoke, I respect it. But
12:47if you're asking me who would be the easier matchup for the Knicks, um, I'd say the Sixers. If
12:53you're asking me what's going to be a thrilling seven game series, um, I'd say the Sixers. I mean,
12:58maybe I screwed that up. The easier matchup is the Sixers, right? The thrilling seven game series
13:05is the Boston Celtics. I happen to agree. I actually agree. See, you made a prediction
13:10and you, you know, you stay with it. Now, is it going to, is it going to work out for
13:13both of us?
13:14I know. Well, listen, there's a reason I don't gamble. I don't, I don't know what I'm talking
13:18about with these predictions. Like, yeah, I do sort of know, like I have an inside view on everything,
13:22but you, you've seen it, man. Like anything can happen in the playoffs. One, one adjustment,
13:28one injury just changes everything. One game where Boston, Boston can't hit a shot in the fourth
13:33quarter means that it's a 20 point comeback in the, and, um, you know, there's a lot of variance in
13:38the, in the, in the series, but talent wise, odds wise, um, the Knicks are better than the Sixers.
13:44I can say that confidently. I agree with you. I have one last thing for you, Mike Brown. I think
13:49you said, you said at the top of this conversation, you said Mike Brown deserves a lot of credit.
13:54Except, except for one thing. Sure. Go ahead. Tell me what, what, cause we haven't talked in a
13:58little bit. I mean, my man look kind of foolish falling down, breaking up that Mitchell Robinson fight.
14:03Did you have shades of Jeff Van Gundy, which was actually 28 years to the day?
14:08So like his glasses. All right. So I'm up in mid court and, uh, his glasses fell off. So I
14:13had no idea
14:13who was on the floor. Um, I thought, cause the head of security for the Knicks is also a bald
14:19black
14:20dude. So I was like, oh, that's gotta be him. But, um, no, it was Mike Brown on the, on
14:25the ground,
14:25but give him credit for this. He tried, he was in the mix. He was in the mix and Mitchell
14:30Robinson
14:31caught him a little bit, you know, with the, in the, in a little melee and, uh, Mike Brown was
14:36flailing
14:37on the ground. He was now the fans, they were on him after the first couple of games adjustments.
14:44I think he did a good job of making counters and countering the counters. He talked after the game
14:49yesterday, you were there in the press conference. He said the Hawks made us better. They made us have
14:52to counter things. Um, do you think his performance in this series? Maybe I don't know. It takes all
15:01the pressure off his back. Cause there's a lot of pressure on this next team. We both know this,
15:04but it takes some of the pressure off his back, maybe with the fan base and saying, Hey,
15:07this is a guy who can't coach. He can't make the adjustments. And he did what he needed to do
15:11in
15:11the series. No, it didn't take any pressure off. Cause all right, there we go. I mean,
15:15they were, they were supposed to win. You know what I mean? Like, it's not like they,
15:19they got to the finals and was like, all right, now you, you got to the finals. We'll give you
15:22props.
15:23It's if he still loses in the second round, he's going to get blamed. There will be blame on him.
15:29Um, so especially let's say they play Boston or you have Billy.
15:34Tibbs beat both those teams. So there's going to be a lot of talk. Well, if you,
15:39you lost the series that the other coach won. So I don't, I don't think that, um,
15:46there's going to be there. He alleviated much pressure, but that doesn't mean he didn't have
15:49a good series. He absolutely had a good series. They did it up and down. You know, they, he realized,
15:54listen, I know he loves Landry Shamit and he, it probably hurt his soul not to play Landry
15:59Shamit, but Landry Shamit couldn't hit a shot. So going to Jose Alvarado who, who brought the
16:04energy, I thought that was a good adjustment, you know, bringing Jordan Clarkson along and
16:08convincing him to be a whole different type of player than what he's been throughout his
16:12entire career. That's a credit to the coaching staff. That's a credit to Mike Brown. So
16:15overall, a really good series.
16:17I think that's fair. I think that's fair. All right. We, we don't know who the Knicks will
16:20play. We will find out game seven between the Sixers and Celtics is on Saturday night. Uh,
16:24we'll find out if Steph is staying home or going up to Boston. If Steph is not traveling
16:28on Sunday, we'll probably do something again where we preview the series. We'll figure it
16:31out, but I'll figure it out with you, Steph. Uh, glad you're back here in New York. We
16:35got your predictions on record, but we'll get official predictions.
16:37Yours too, though. Yours too. We're both on the record.
16:39What we have to do is we got to make sure we hold each other accountable. And if we're
16:42both like writing on the record, I don't know, we got to celebrate and do some kind of
16:45victory lap on social media, something like that. All right. That's the great stuff.
16:49And body does a great job covering the Knicks for us here with the New York
16:51Post. I'm Dexter Henry. We'll catch you next time on NewYork.com.
16:54Peace.
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